ABOUT USL CHAMPIONSHIP
The USL Championship is one of the most successful professional soccer leagues in the world, reaching a population of more than 84 million and fueling the growth of the game across North America. Sanctioned by the U.S. Soccer Federation as a Division II professional league, the USL Championship includes a membership of 24 clubs across the continental United States.
Through the league’s headquarters in Tampa, Florida, the clubs are provided with unparalleled support with a growing team of more than 100 professionals across 20 departments, ranging from operations to marketing, communications and sponsorship.
The USL Championship has a national media partnership with both ESPN and CBS platforms which sees all league matches broadcast on digital and linear channels. The league also operates USL Productions, which includes a state-of-the-art facility that produced and distributed more than 500 league matches and more than 1,000 hours of original content to national partners, local affiliates and international markets throughout the 2024 season.
HISTORY
The USL Championship was formed when two existing professional leagues were combined into a single league property before the 2011 season. The league was designed to help ensure the long-term stability of professional soccer in North America and featured 12 teams in a pair of six-team divisions during its initial campaign. Among the league’s founding members were five longtime USL clubs with more than 100 years of operation among them, including the Charleston Battery, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC and the Richmond Kickers.
Over the course of the current decade, the sophisticated business model that provides the foundation for the USL has allowed the league to grow into the largest professional soccer league in North America, with 36 current members that include world-class ownership groups. The league’s current club owners also hold stakes in teams that compete in the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, Minor League Baseball and the NBA G-League. In January of 2017, after a thorough application review process, the U.S. Soccer Federation granted the USL Division II status beginning in the 2017 season, recognizing the significant investment and high level of operating excellence within the USL and its member clubs.